Tag: computer tips

Posted articles with tips on how to operate more efficiently

Easy way to enter information into internet or form fields

Easy way to enter information into input fields in forms or on the internet.

How many times have you tried to enter a message or information into an internet site input fields i.e. name, address, city, state, text messages, etc. only to have an annoying error message pop up saying your entry or message exceeds the maximum number of characters including spaces allowed?

You go back and retype the information only to have the same error message appear. If you’re trying to send a message or request for information in a site, you retype the message, but the input field/box is small. What you type moves up out of sight making it difficult to make see/proof what you typed without scrolling.

You’ve finished typing your message. You scroll back to the top of the input field/box to proof your message. You find an error or two or decide to add more text. When you scroll down to the bottom of the text you find that because you’ve exceeded the maximum characters allowed, what you added caused the last sentence or two has been deleted. You try to type add it back in but the site won’t let you because you’re at the maximum limit… or worse… you send it BEFORE you realize it was incomplete.

How many times do you go through this until the message will go through? After two or three tries you want to give up. Frustrating isn’t it?

I FINALLY got smart (at least about this anyway) and came up with a plan. It’s simple, easy, and MUCH LESS frustrating… trust me.

Almost every site on the internet has maximum number of character limitations for entering information into the appropriate input box or field. It’s usually the maximum number of characters including spaces or it can be maximum number of words or lines. This number might be located someplace around the input box.

However, some sites don’t post this information. Instead, when you exceed the maximum, an error message pops up informing you you’ve exceeded the limit of XX number of characters, words or lines.

If you have a potentially long message to send, to avoid this problem, follow these procedures:

Make a note of the maximum number allowed and whether it’s characters, words or lines.

Leaving the internet site open, minimize the window.  Don’t leave the site and do NOT close it out.

Continue reading “Easy way to enter information into internet or form fields”

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 4 of 4: Types of customers you can receive work from.

In Parts 1 through 3 of this 4-part series, I listed the various types of jobs I’ve actually done that you too can do working at home using just your computer, a printer/scanner and some computer programs.

Below is the final part of this 4-part series, the type of customers you can expect to receive work from:

Apartment Renter’s Associations

Arbitrators

Artists

Attorneys

Authors of Novels, Memoirs, Poems, Short Stories, Plays

Blog sites

Charities

City council meeting minutes

Clinics

Condominium Home Owner’s Associations

Corporations (overflow work)

Doctors/Physicians

Financial Service Advisors

Forums

Graphics Designers

Hospitals

Housing Complex Home Owner’s Associations

Individuals

Insurance Agents

Internet lesson site owners

Internet Web Site designers

Jail inmates

Marine Surveyors

Ministers/Preachers

Mobile Home Park Home Owner’s Associations

Physical Therapists

Private Investigators

Professional Speakers and Lecturers

Psychiatrists

Producers of videos containing seminars, workshops, and video lessons

Real Estate Agents

Retired professionals still working from home

Small businesses

Self-employed business owners

In my future books to be titled Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts and How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Secretarial Service From Home, I go into detail regarding the things you can do and expect working at home.

Be sure to check the link in the paragraph above to the pages in this blog site to read how much valuable information will be contained in my book.

Food for thought: “If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.” (Paul Bryant)

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If you’re a mystery lover, be sure to check out the pages in this blog site for information about my upcoming novels; Road Rage Dolls: Someone is murdering road rage drivers, Susan’s Stalkers: Double the Fear and my other books.

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 2 of 4: Jobs 15 through 29

Welcome to Part 2 of this four-part series where I list most of the jobs you can do at home using just your computer, a printer/scanner, and a few specialized computer programs.

In Parts 1 through 3, I list the various types of work I’ve actually done with exampls. In Part 4, I list the types of customers.

Brief descriptions of the various kinds of jobs, equipment, computer programs, and experience necessary as well as how to price the jobs are all covered in chapters of my upcoming books, How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts.

In these books, I also cover advertising, promotion, and the market you want to reach.  For more information regarding what will be in the books, click on the link above.

Regarding the references to call-in dictation, in one of the chapters of both of my books I go into detail regarding what is required and how to set up a call-in dictation line using your phone, your computer and an inexpensive computer program that answers the phone and records the call up to five hours in WAV format that can be transcribed using a free computer transcription program.

Now on to jobs 15 through 29.

15.  Internet Online Lessons: There are more and more internet sites with interactive lessons on everything from learning how to use specific computer programs, learning how to write a novel, to studying for a college degree. I’ve had several of these site owners contact me to record the voices from the online lessons to cassette tapes and transcribe them. One of my customers taught music lessons. I transcribed the audio for guitar lessons and several other instruments. I also transcribed the audio portion of an online course on First Aid for training people studying to be paramedics.

16.  Internet Web Site Design: This is a specialized service that pays well. However, you must learn the newest and latest version of the internet protocol language. There are many great manuals you can purchase to learn VML, HTML, PHP, Java and other internet programing languages. This takes training in graphics design as well.

There are specialized computer programs that help with the initial layout and codes. You might also have to purchase an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program in order to upload the finished web site. Internet Web Site Design work is a specialty that pays well, once you’ve learned how to do it, but be aware, it takes time. There are classes you can take to learn, or you could just type the initial text portion and leave the design work to a professional.

17.  Interviews: I would estimate this type of work counted for at least 45 percent or more of my business. I received many requests to transcribe interviews that were either done in person, over the telephone, in a video, or in an internet video such as YouTube or a video lessons site.

The recorded interviews might be with accident victims for insurance claims or Workman’s Compensations claims or accident witness statements. Interviews can also be in the form of question and answer surveys. The interviews can be one person interviewing another, a conference call with three or more people or may involve an interpreter because several of the people involved do not speak English.

You could receive the recorded sound or video files on cassette tape (standard, mini, VHS or Mini-DV tapes), in WAV or other sound file format by email. Large sound or video files can be uploaded to an internet cloud site with a link email to you for downloading.

18.  Invoicing: Many small business owners or self-employed people need their invoices typed and mailed to customers and don’t have the space or the income to warrant hiring a part or full-time employee. They may need other typing or transcription work done as well such as their correspondence, a manual or a catalog. Sub-contracting the work is also a way to avoid all of the book work involved with hiring an employee.

19.  Legal Documents: You probably won’t get many calls for this type of work because Legal Transcription is a “certified” skill much like Medical Transcription or Court Reporter.

However, you may get calls from self-employed attorneys working at home who need legal briefs or other correspondence typed or from individuals who are involved in a law suit and need documents typed.

I received work from a Professional Arbitrator who arbitrated labor disputes. I have also received request to type and/or transcribe rental agreements or contracts from individuals who rent property.

This type of recording is usually fairly straight forward and easy. Specific information on transcribing legal documents will be in both of my books.

20.  Mail Merge: This type of work requires knowledge of spreadsheets (I prefer Microsoft Excel) as well as Microsoft Word. I’ve done this type of work for real estate agents, financial services agents, condo associations, and many others. This type of work can range from data input only to merging into a form letter, printing, folding, stuffing, and mailing. You may even be asked to print the envelopes. This could include flyers, postcards, and/or labels.

21.  Manuscripts for Novels, Journals, Poems, Short Stories, Reference Books: There are many people who have written memoirs, journals, poems, and/or stories about their family or personal experiences, short stories, or fiction and want them transcribed or typed from printed, handwritten material, or dictated to either cassette tapes or in digital sound files.

One of my customers took several years to write a reference book of famous artists who lived in the State of Florida. This book included the insertion of many color photographs. Another woman wrote about her entire family complete with photographs. Both of these books ended up containing several hundred pages printed on both sides.

These jobs are more complex in that they require special formatting for publication as well as perhaps even scanning pictures and/or documents and graphics for inclusion in the books.

You may need to refer to a professional for help regarding book cover designs, graphics, editing, and proof reading. This type of work can be time-consuming but very rewarding financially. I’ve added some of my tips and suggestions for this type of work in my book.

For in-depth information regarding the proper formatting of a book for publication there are many informative sites on the internet or books on the subject. I’ve added some of these web site addresses on the Web Site page in Appendix A of my book, How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Secretarial From Home.

Once you’ve established a relationship with an author and they are happy with your work, you could have a repeat customer with new books to be transcribed/typed and formatted then published each year.

22.  Manuals: When businesses are purchased by new owners, many times the new owners want to change the manual to reflect the new business name and change some or many of the procedures. However, they don’t have a computer file for the manual; all they have is a printed copy. They need the manual in text form (usually in Microsoft Word) so they can periodically update it. They may want to change the company name and/or add their own logo.

You can either quote them a price to type it from scratch or offer to scan and convert the document to a text document that can be saved in Word format and edited provided you have a scan-and-covert to text program. Scan and convert to text work is covered in one of the chapters of my book.

Other times you may be asked to type a manual either from typed or handwritten material. This kind of work lends itself well to building a regular relationship with the customer when it comes time to update the manual.

Although this doesn’t occur often, you may be asked to scan images i.e. photographs, graphs, etc. as illustrations in the manual so be sure you know how to scan and insert these items into a Word document or you could lose out on what could potentially be a lucrative job. In my book, I go into detail regarding scanning software and graphic editing programs and how to use them. I add URL’s to sites where you can download for free or purchase software programs, tutorials you can download for free and/or manuals with tips on using the various programs.

23.  Mass Mailing: Mass Mailing via the U. S. Postal Service entails the actual mailing of documents once the documents have been printed. After you have done a Mail Merge job for a customer, they may ask you to print, stuff the envelopes, then affix labels, seals, stamps, and mail them. In my book, I show how to charge for the various parts of this type of work.

24.  Mass Emailing: A customer may ask you to send out material he dictates to you on a regular basis. The email can be monthly sales ads, advice on a particular subject, or updates regarding an association. The list is endless and may either be provided to you or you may be asked to transcribe it. You might even be asked to do some research for the customer on material to be inserted into the newsletter.

25.  Meeting Minutes: Condo, apartment, or mobile home park home owners associations need the minutes of their annual meeting transcribed and saved for legal purposes. They may also need updates to their bylaws typed.

One of my customers, The City of St. Pete Beach, Florida, found me in the local Yellow Book phone directory. Another customer who found my secretarial service business online was The City of Birchwood Village, Minnesota. I transcribed the minutes of their monthly city council meetings after downloading the video-taped meetings from the internet.

This type of work is a bit different than straight typing. The customer should give you information regarding exactly what format to be used for the minutes. More detailed information on this will be in my book.

26.  Newsletters by mass email: This is another type of work that can be regular and lucrative. Customer dictate to you what they want in the newsletter. You transcribe it and send it out to a pre-determined group of people by email. You could be asked to design the newsletter layout to be used on a regular basis.

27.  Patient Evaluations: While true Medical Transcription requires a Certified Medical Transcriptionist, you may receive requests to type Patient Evaluations. Three of my customers were doctors; two were psychiatrists and the other a physical therapist. They called in daily to my business dictation line and dictated their patient evaluations.

28.  Play Scripts: This is another rare type of job you may never receive a request for, but it is possible. I have received several such requests. Once the scripts were done, they were formatted and published as ebooks. Transcribing and formatting play scripts does require that you learn the proper formatting which is much different than formatting for regular ebook or printed publication.

29.  PowerPoint Presentations: Don’t expect to get many, if any, calls for designing presentations unless you have the skills and advertise this service. This type of work is usually contracted to certified professionals. However, If you have the Microsoft Suite of programs that includes PowerPoint or if you have some other presentations program, when you have the time, practice putting together a presentation. Even if you don’t do this type of work for someone else, you can create one for yourself as a promotional tool. There are ad sites on line i.e. YouTube where you can post your presentation. You also never know when you may be able to offer this additional service to a customer who is already impressed with your work. The hourly rate for this type of work is much higher than for the other types of work.

Next is Part 3, Jobs 30 through 43

Food for thought: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Secretarial, typing and transcription jobs you can do at home – Part 1 of 4: Introduction and Jobs 1 through 14

When people find out I work at home doing secretarial work, I’m often asked exactly what kind of secretarial jobs I do. The usual misconception is that all I do is type correspondence for customers.

I’ll admit that when I started my business in 1998, that’s what I too expected I would be doing. Boy was I wrong. This four-part article will enlighten you as to the actual types of secretarial work you too can do at home.

In these four articles, I list 43 types of jobs that can be done at home with a computer, a printer/scanner, computer software programs, and at least a basic knowledge of how to use a computer, computer software programs, and the internet.

There are brief descriptions of the various jobs I have actually done at home. In my two future books titled How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Shortcuts (expected publication in 2018), I go into more detail regarding required equipment, computer software programs, experience, training, billing, how to price the jobs, how to deal with customers, hiring and paying sub-contractors to help you with overflow, advertising, marketing and other important topics all based upon my 20 years of personal experience running my own home-based secretarial service.

If you plan to do much transcription, and you probably will, consider investing in two cassette tape transcribers; one for regular size cassette tapes and one for mini-cassette tapes. Even though we are now in the age of digital recordings, many people still have and use cassette tapes recorders. Investment in transcribers with foot pedals is well worth the cost and will pay for themselves in just one or two jobs.

Regarding the references below to call-in dictation, in one of the chapters of both of my books I go into detail regarding what is required and how to set up a call-in dictation line using your phone, your computer and an inexpensive computer program that answers the phone and records the call up to five hours in various sound file formats that can be transcribed using a free computer transcription program. I also cover internet voice mail services.

Please note that as you read through the job descriptions, some of the jobs are easy while others require more knowledge in specific areas. My advice is to keep up with the latest technology. In your spare time learn all you can in the areas you would like to become more proficient in so you can attract more lucrative jobs.

To learn more about the content of my books and publication progress, click on the URL’s to the book pages in this blog.

The first three parts of this series list a total of 43 secretarial service jobs you can do at home.

Part 1 lists jobs 1 through 14.

Part 2 lists jobs 15 through 29

Part 3 lists jobs 30 through 43

Part 4 lists the types of customers you may receive work from.

1.  Bible Scripture: Typing verses of Bible Scripture. I’ve worked for 17 years for a man who writes Christian books and Bible teachings. He calls-in and dictates to an answering program on my computer or mails me standard cassette tapes to transcribe. (My business line is connected to my computer.)

Typing verses of scripture requires special punctuation and formatting. In order to facilitate copying verses of Scripture correctly, I downloaded from the internet a free version of The Amplified Bible (which my customer preferred) in PDF format.

As I transcribed his dictation and he mentioned a verse of Scripture (the name, book, and verse number), I looked up the verse of Scripture in the PDF file, highlighted it and copied/pasted it into the document I was transcribing. All I had to do then was change the font to match the document’s font.

You will need to learn how to type/format a partial verse of Scripture. There are other special steps you should learn as well before tackling this type of work.

2.  Blogs: You may get a request from a customer who doesn’t have time to keep up with their blog. They may dictate what they want you to enter into the blog site on a regular basis. They may also ask you to download email responses and forward them to them to respond to. There are many ways to assist a customer with their blog. If you have your own blog and web site, this experience will be invaluable.

3.  Book Cover Design: This type of work is usually done by professional designers. But if you’re proficient in graphics design using programs such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Paint and other design and desktop publishing programs, you can do it too. All it takes is a good imagination for designing and knowledge of graphic design. Most of the online on-demand publishers will furnish you with templates for the covers and instructions as to their requirements.

4.  Book Formatting: As the years went by and digital self-publishing became more and more prevalent with authors, I realized I had to educate myself on book formatting for both ebooks and print versions. By the time I wound down the business in 2017, I had transcribed, typed, formatted, and uploaded to online publishers 24 books for customers now on sale in Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and many other major bookseller sites worldwide.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to learn how to do book formatting. It’s not as difficult as you may think IF you are proficient in Word. Most of the online on-demand publishers will furnish you with templates for the various size books and instructions as to their requirements

5.  Brochures and Business Cards: Many small businesses don’t have the funds to pay a large advertising firm to create Brochures and/or Business Cards for their business. This kind of work does require that you know how to work with columns, and text boxes. Word has many templates with layouts for brochures, flyers, and business cards. I suggest you consider teaching yourself how to use the layouts in Word and Excel for two, three, or four fold (section) brochures. The layout can also be used for catalogs and may include the insertion of images and photographs. This kind of work lends itself well to building a regular relationship with the customer when it comes time to updating their brochure.

6.  Cassette Tape, CD and DVD Labels: One my customers sells cassette tapes, CD’s, and DVD’s of his lectures. I designed and printed labels for the tapes. I also designed my own CD and DVD labels for my personal material and for customers. Avery and Roxio have excellent label design programs for CD and/or DVD labels.

7.  Catalogs: Some small businesses need their catalog typed listing everything from parts to video tapes to books. Typing catalogs may require that you know how to work in columns, and the use of text boxes. Word has templates. Check them out or download the free templates from Microsoft Word online.

I suggest you consider teaching yourself how to use the layouts in Word and Excel for two, three, or four fold (section) documents. This layout can also be used for brochures and may include the insertion of images and photographs.

8.  Correspondence, Emails: You could establish a regular repeat customer business transcribing daily or weekly customer correspondence and or their invoicing. This type of work will most likely be call-in dictation that you can transcribe using a computer transcription program. Once you’ve established yourself with a customer doing this type of work, you could be asked to do internet research and other secretarial work.

I had two regular customers for over 18 years. They became the mainstay of my business.

9.  Conversion of VHS and Mini-DV video tapes to PC Files and burn to DVD’s: I have received work from several customers requesting that I convert the videos they recorded using their camcorder on Mini-DV video tapes to a computer file to be saved on a DVD or CD. I’ve also been asked to convert videos on VHS tapes to a computer file that can then be saved on a DVD or CD. I cover in detail how this can be done and the necessary equipment and computer programs in my books; How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service and Transcription Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Shortcuts.

10.  Data Input: This type of work requires that you know how to do data input into either a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or a database program like Microsoft Access. Examples of this kind of work: requests for data input of names and addresses for mail merging to create letters, envelopes, labels, reports, lists, etc. I’ve had customers send me templates already laid out and the source material to be input. This kind of work can come from real estate agents, insurance agents, financial and investment services people

11.  Desktop Publishing: Desktop publishing is a very specialized type of work. Desktop publishing is used to create newspapers and books, flyers, brochures and business cards because of the program’s ability to create movable sections, columns, images and many special effects you can’t do in a word processing programs such as Microsoft Word. To do this type of work correctly you need a desktop publishing program such as Adobe InDesign. If you have a creative “nature” and think you would like to get into this type of work, check out the Adobe InDesign internet site for additional information.

If you do decide to purchase one of these programs, be aware they are expensive, but well worth the price IF you have a demand for this type of work. You may be able to purchase an older version for less on the internet just to get you started. Currently, Adobe requires an annual subscription for their programs. Be sure to check out their site and others.

To be honest, I’ve never had much call for this type of work. Most customers looking for this kind of work go to professional publishers.

12.  Dissertations for college students: This type of work will require that you understand the various styles and formats required of the college the customer will be submitting their dissertation to. Most colleges require the APA style of writing.

You can download helpful articles from the internet on the various styles. I have URL’s of these sites in Appendix A of my book How to Establish, Run and Build a $ucce$$ful Home-based Secretarial Service. If you plan to go into this kind of work, I highly recommend you purchase the latest versions of The Chicago Manual of Style and the Turabian Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

13.  Flyers: Flyers are pretty straight forward. A variety of templates to create two, three, and four-fold flyers are included with Microsoft Word, Excel and other software programs.

14.  Forms Fill-in and/or Design: This is not the type of job you will get many requests for. However, it helps if you know how to do this kind of work so you can offer it to a customer or if the job you’re doing is one that might require a form to be completed. You might receive a job where the customer has a form that needs to be filled in.

If you have a program like PaperPort, OmniPage Pro, or Adobe Acrobat, you can easily scan the form, create fill-in text boxes in the document then type in the required information. Once the form is complete, save it in PDF format and print it for the customer. Acrobat also has a function whereby if you have the form typed and laid out in a Word document, It will automatically complete a fill-in form for you. (More on this in my book.)

Next is Part 2, Jobs 15 through 29

Food for thought: “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” (Milton Berle)

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Medical Emergency Information Cards – Part 1: Instructions

How many times have you been sitting in a new doctor’s office, an emergency room, or a walk-in clinic and had to remember very important information for the endless forms like the one above you have to fill out?

The form asks you for the dates you had your last tetanus or flu shot, PAP test, colonoscopy, mammogram or physical.

They’ll ask you about surgeries you’ve had i.e. date, the name of the doctor, hospital you were in, what the surgery was, where it was performed, any complications, and other details.

Another important question will be about any allergies you may have; food, airborne, or medications of any kind including prescriptions and/or over-the-counter drugs like aspirin. This is especially important if you are allergic to any medications i.e. penicillin.

Could you give the answers ASAP especially if you’re hurt or sick? Chances are your answer is No.

Have you ever been in an emergency situation and been asked for vital information by a doctor or a paramedic?

Have you ever thought about how important certain information concerning your medical history or current medications would be to a paramedic or an ER doctor in an emergency situation especially if you’re unconscious and can’t communicate?

Do you have emergency contact information on you at all times in case you’re unconscious? Even if the paramedics were able to find information and contact your family, would your family member know or could they give all of the information a doctor or paramedic should have to properly treat you i.e. your current medical conditions i.e. diabetes, thyroid condition, high BP, etc.?

Would they know the exact medications AND supplements you currently take, the reason for the medication, the dosage and when you last took it? This information is vital to the doctor, nurse, and/or medic taking care of you. Not having this information could mean the difference between life and death… yours!!!

Instructions for creating the cards

If you have a computer and a printer and I’m assuming you do if you’re reading this post, you can easily create a set of Medical Emergency Information Cards containing this information using reasonably priced business card stock available in most office supply stores. The cards are small yet can contain vital information about you that could save your life in an emergency.

Using Microsoft Word, open the Avery business card layout template. Type in the information suggested below and print the cards. It may take from three to six cards to type in all of the information. Use a size 9 or 10 font. On the first card, you can insert a small headshot picture of yourself to serve as additional identification.

You can type some of information on the first page of ten cards (or more if you need them) then create a second page to add the rest. Print the cards front and back printing page one on the front and page two on the back. Staple them together at the left end. If you need help or have questions setting this up, use the Leave a Reply section below.

Click on the link to go to Part 2 of this article “List of items to be sure to add to your medical emergency cards”.

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

Timing your work for billing and/or personal purposes with a computer program.

TIME STAMP – A Computer TIMING pROGRAM

Have you ever had a need to time a job or have your employee(s) or sub-contractor(s) time their work for billing purposes? Have you ever wanted to keep track of the time it takes you to perform a task, type a manuscript or other task? If so, then this tip is for you.

When I started my home-based secretarial services business in January, 1998, I was faced with the dilemma of how to charge for my services. I quickly found that charging everything by the hour was not practical especially when you sub-contract typing and transcription work to others. Some sub-contractors type faster (and more accurately) than others so charging customers and paying sub-contractors using an hourly rate didn’t work.

I knew I had to charge either by-the-typed line or by-the-typed page. But how could I come up with a charge that would result in the hourly rate I wanted for both myself and my sub-contractors. I decided on a per-typed-line rate based on a 12 point Arial font with 1” margins, single spaced.

When you charge the customer by the typed line rate instead of by the page, the customer doesn’t pay for a partial page or for more pages because the document is double-spaced. The customer would pay the same rate whether the page was the standard letter size (8 ½” x 11”), legal size (8 ½” x 14”) or any other size. This is fair to the customer and to the sub-contractors.

The only way I could determine the time it takes to complete each of the different types of jobs I do, typing and transcription work in particular, was to keep track of my time and keep records. But how could I do that efficiently, accurately and fairly?

Searching the internet, I found a small, easy to download and install utility timing program called Time Stamp. Time Stamp has many great features I list at the end of this article.

To find the program, click on this link: (URL) Syntap.

Using Time Stamp to time the typing and/or transcription jobs I was able to determine the time it took to do the job. I timed typing and/or transcription work from handwritten material, documents that contained many strikeouts and handwritten notes, documents that contained tables, financial information, technical terms, etc. I timed transcription from cassette tapes, videos, and digital content based upon the quality of the recording and the quality of the person dictating. I timed transcription from meetings where many people were involved and meetings with questions and answers and many interruptions.

I then counted the number of words typed in the timed job and divided the total minutes by the total number of words. Using this formula I was able to determine a fair rate to charge the customer according to the type of source documentation provided by the customer to be typed or transcribed. I paid my sub-contractors sixty percent of what I charged the customer. This worked out perfectly thanks to Time Stamp.

Many of the jobs I’ve done i.e scanning and converting to text jobs, special formatting, etc. can’t be charged by-the-typed line so I use this program for accurate invoicing of those jobs as well.

I used Time Stamp to estimate how long other types of work took to do so I could determine an estimate when a prospective customer called. I made a chart in Excel with all of this information and kept it handy to give customers a quote either over the phone or by email.

If you decide to try the program, go to the web site listed above. Click on Downloads and follow the instructions from there. This program is FREE… well actually, it’s “Donationware” which means it’s free but the author would appreciate a contribution to continue enhancements and support, which I gladly sent because this program is well worth it. If you decide to use the program, I’m sure you will agree.

To use the program after you install it:

1) Type in the hourly rate you wish to charge and click on Timing.

2) If you are interrupted before you finish the job, click on Slacking.

The timer will divide the time into Work (billable) Time and Slack Time listed at the top listing the total time and cost for each.

You can time different phases of a job by stopping the timer then starting it again.

3) To stop timing the job, simply click on Timing a second time.

Each phase of the job you time will be listed on a different line containing the work time, slack time and total of that phase of the job.

At the end of each line under the Notes column, you can type a short explanation of what you did during that time.

The file can be saved using a file (job) name in any folder you wish. When you’re finished with the job, you can print out the entire page showing all of this information.

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If you’re a mystery-suspense novel fan, be sure to stop by this site. I’ll be posting excerpts from some of my books. I hope to publish my first novel, Road Rage Dolls: Someone is Murdering Road Rage Drivers in 2021.

My second novel to be published in 2018 is titled Susan’s Stalkers – Double The Fear.

Food for thought: What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” (Ralph Marston )

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

How to Create a Family History Journal – Part 7: Typing, Copying, Printing and Commercial Publication

Part 7 (the final part of this 7-part series) contains information regarding saving your book to a CD or DVD, printing and publication options, creating a PowerPoint presentation or an e-book.

Once your book is complete, typed and ready to be distributed, you need to decide how you want it published. The following are options to consider:

Saving your book to a CD or DVD: This is the least expensive way to distribute your book in several ways. You save on the cost of paper, ink, and mailing.

Keep in mind that the only way anyone can view your family history will be on a computer screen, a DVD player or on a TV screen with a DVD player connected.

*  If you save the book as a Word or text document, anyone can make changes to your file. If you do not want anyone else to be able to make changes, consider password protecting the document so no one else but you can make changes.

*  You can save the document in PDF format which will prevent anyone from making changes. PDF files are easier to read. To read a PDF file will require the reader(s) to have a computer or a tablet or other file reader unless you save it to a DVD formatted for an external DVD player.

*..If you save the book to a DVD, be sure the format is one that can be universally read by all DVD’s. Check the save to DVD instructions in your DVD software program.

*  If you save the book to a CD or a DVD, be sure to check the size of your file.

Double-check the format. Not everyone has Blue-Ray compatible players so you may not want to purchase Blue-Ray DVD’s. To learn more about Blue-Ray format, check online.

If you have quite a few pictures and document images, it probably won’t fit on a CD and may not even fit on just one DVD. You can save it to two or more discs by splitting the file into however many parts are necessary to make them fit. If you do have to split your file, be sure to add a first and last page to indicate the file is in X number of files and which part this disc is.

If you do NOT want someone to be able to make any changes to your files, I suggest you use regular CD-R’s or DVD-R’s NOT CD-RW (Read/Write) or DVD-RW discs.

Here is the URL to a site that can give you information about size and capacity of these discs:

Link to site with CD and DVD size information

Printing: You can either print copies of your book yourself at home using your own printer or use an outside copy service. Per page copy prices whether you copy them yourself using your printer or using a copy service will vary depending upon the following factors:

*  Printing two-sided pages (printing on the front and the back of each page).

*  Printing in color or black print only.

*  Using a laser printer or an inkjet printer. If you decide to print the book yourself and intend to use an inkjet printer, depending upon the number of pages, this could be costly… more than using a copy service. Be sure to call different copy/printing services for prices before you decide. If you want your book printed in color, ask the service if they use laser color printers or inkjet. Most copiers today use laser printers.

Binding:

*  Printing on 3-hole punch paper for insertion and distribution in a folder or 3-ring binder. When you are estimating the cost to print one book, don’t forget to factor in the cost of the folders or 3-ring binders in addition to the cost of the paper.

*  Coil binding. This can only be done using a copy service. NOTE: One of the advantages to coil binding and printing on 3-hole punched paper is that if you or any other family member should want to add pages to the book later, it can easily be done.

*  Perfect or soft binding (pages glued together at the spine). This type of binding is usually used for paperback publications. However, if your copy service will do this for a reasonable price, it’s a nice finishing touch to your book.

PowerPoint Presentations:  Your text and all the pictures and images can be imported and saved in a PowerPoint Presentation. Voice recordings, video clips, music, narration, and special effects can be added. Presentations can be saved to CD’s or DVD’s with menus to send to family members or uploaded to one of many sites online that only you and your designated family members and friends can view.

As for the cost if you don’t know how to create a PowerPoint presentation yourself, there are many services that can do this for you.

E-Books:  E-books require special formatting to create in order to read them on a tablet, Kindle, Nook, computer or other ebook reading device. There are many ebook publishing services that offer this type of formatting.

Cost: Keep in mind that the more pictures and documents you have, the higher the cost will be especially if you want the book printed in color. The cost to put your book together can include any or all of the following:

*  Typing of the text and Table of Contents

*  Pictures and document scanning, cropping, size scaling, adding text titles, image editing (if necessary), and insertion into the file.

*  The time to save each photograph and/or document as a file then combine them in the desired order.

*  Printing costs vary depending upon the number of pages.

*  Printing in color will cost more than in black only.

*  Special paper. If you choose special paper, this will cost more.

*  Binding costs if you choose to have your book bound.

The text portion of your book:  Most likely you’re going to do the writing or typing yourself. You may even be able to scan the pictures and documents yourself. If you know how to scan images and insert them into a document and if you know how to save a document to a CD, you might not have to pay for anything more than the cost of the CD’s.

If you don’t need many copies, you can print them at home. Remember that color copies with pictures can use up a lot of ink. It might be cheaper to save the file to a CD and take it to a copy service to have copies made.

You may be thinking, “I can’t afford to publish or print a book nor do I even want to.” It doesn’t have to be a published book. Once you have ALL of the material put together in a computer file, you can take the file to any printer or most office supply store and have copies run off for your family. You can also save copies to CD’s or DVD’s for distribution. The cost is not all that much. Price what the cost of one book will be, before you.

I hope this 7-part article about putting together a Family History Book is helpful to you.If you found this article useful, I would love to hear from you.

In 2021 I plan to put all seven parts together into one ebook that can be downloaded in many formats from this site or from Smashwords.com. Check back with this site and the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles  to find out when it will be published.

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and be sure to check the Schedule of Future Posts and Past Articles Page. The schedule will be updated regularly.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.

How to Create a Family History Journal – Part 1: Introduction

The woman standing up is my grandmother with her sister – 1912

Welcome to Part 1 – The Introduction of the 7-part series on How to Create a Family History Journal for Publication.

Have you ever thought about or wanted to create a journal or book about your family containing stories, pictures, and information about your current family and your ancestors; something permanent you can share with your family now and pass along to future generations? A journal about your family member that can continue to be added onto as time goes on?

If so, be sure to read this 6-part article with instructions about what to do to create and document your family history as well as ideas of what to include. Creating your family history may be a little time consuming at first but the rewards are well worth it. You can start with some of the items you probably already have in your possession. Maybe you have already begun making notes about events and meaningful experiences.

It’s not as difficult or costly as you might think. Part 6 of this article contains information regarding copying, printing, publication options, and approximate cost.

Your book would not only serve as a valuable piece of family history for you and your family to enjoy, it would be something you will have fun creating. Your book would be something you will enjoy going back through from time to time to bring back memorable events you can relive in your mind over and over again.

Creating a book about your family and ancestors is an important way of converting and preserving memories forever with the printed word, pictures, video clips, and recorded narrations. You could use the book to create a PowerPoint presentation, home movie or an e-book.

History of how I came to write this series: I transcribed and put together a family history book for one of my customers. It contained 500 pages and 350 photographs and images of important documents. The final printed copy was one inch thick. Continue reading “How to Create a Family History Journal – Part 1: Introduction”

Emergency Computer & Computer Software Preparation

If you had to leave your home (evacuate) at a moment’s notice for any reason i.e. fire, hurricane, tornado or other natural disaster, what about your valuable computer software programs, and files?

If your computer hard drive crashes or your computer is infected with a virus and you need to completely reformat or replace your hard drive, are you prepared?

If you purchase a new computer, laptop, or tablet and have to install everything from scratch including all the programs and important files you have saved, do you have everything you need at your fingertips?

In this post, I explain what I have done with all my computer programs and files. You have no idea how handy it is to have all your program discs and files on discs in one place when you need them even if you have an external backup drive. You can’t put your programs and all the information required to reinstall them on an external drive. You need the original discs. If you work with your computer a lot as I do, you never know when any of these things will occur.

Following this procedure will take a little time and effort, but trust me, it pays off. Take your time. It doesn’t have to be done in an hour or even a day.

If you don’t have a portable CD or DVD pouch carrier, purchase one. They are zippered, cloth 3-ring binders containing pages with compartments for each disc. They are fairly inexpensive, $17 to $20 for a binder that holds up to 48 discs. Be sure to purchase one that holds a minimum of 30 discs. (You may actually need two or more depending upon how many discs you have.)

  1. Gather all the discs that contain the installation program files for all the hardware on every computer you own i.e. modem, motherboard, Windows operating system, graphics boards, sound boards, DVD and/or CD drives, printers, mouse, scanners, cameras, etc. Sort them by category, i.e. graphics, hardware equipment, games, business software, personal software, etc.
  2. Regarding programs you downloaded, saved, and installed from the internet including updates to programs you have discs for, create a sub-directory on your hard drive under My Documents and name it Downloaded Programs. Copy all the downloaded setup or installation files for those programs to that directory. Hopefully you saved them. If not, try downloading them again. (You probably should anyway to be sure you have the more recent updated version.) When you have all of the setup or installation files located in that directory, burn (copy) them to Read/Writeable CD’s or DVD’s. (It may take more than one disc.) Be sure to include any programs you use when on the internet, i.e. your internet service provider connection program, browser software, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Messenger, other chat programs, email programs, anti-spyware, anti-virus, etc.
  3. Sort all the CD’s or DVD’s by hardware installation programs and other software programs by category i.e. hardware installation, graphics-photographs, etc. Insert them in the disc pouch carrier. Include the disc(s) you created that contain the setup or installation files for programs you downloaded from the internet. I purchased a binder for each category then sorted the discs alphabetically inside the binder to make it easier to locate any particular disc I may need.
  4. Gather all the information you have for all of the program installation discs, i.e. Key ID numbers, Serial numbers, Product codes, passwords, etc.… all the information necessary to install or reinstall the programs if you should ever need to.
  5. Create information forms using a spreadsheet program. The square forms should be laid out 3″ by 3″ with six squares to a Page. Type in the following information: PROGRAM: VERSION #: #OF DISCS: PASSWORDS: KEYS OR CODES TO INSTALL: Put lines next to each item. Print the page and cut into squares. Now write in the information for each CD in the square and put that information form in the disc pouch over top of each CD/DVD it applies to. For the discs that contain multiple files or programs, complete a separate form with a list of those files/programs and any other information you will need. If you have more than one computer and have different brand names or model parts installed on different computers, write down what part it is, the model number, serial number and what computer the part is installed on. If you don’t know how to create the form in Excel or Word, write the information down on small pieces of paper.
  6. List all the downloaded programs you saved to a disc and put that list with the disc you created so you will know what is on that disc and the necessary installation information.
  7. Create a spreadsheet on your computer or write on a legal pad. List the names of all the installation discs and program discs along with all the necessary information you need for installation. Be sure to make notes that will be helpful during installation i.e. came with Windows XP or came with the modem. NOTE: some hardware installation discs also contain other programs on the same disc. List those programs and what disc they are on. Print the list and keep it with the pouch.
  8. You should also have an external backup drive so you can copy all your important files on a regular basis. If you don’t, a minimum of once a month (depending upon your computer usage) copy all the important files you have on your computer to Read/Write CD’s or DVD;s. (No need to make a list of all the files.) Put these discs in the pouch as well. Make note on a paper to keep in the pouch when the last date was that you copied files to the discs. ESPECIALLY do this if there is a hurricane warning and you only have a few days notice to get this done.

Now, if you have to evacuate or leave your home in an emergency situation for any reason you can just “grab” the pouch and your backup drive (if you have one) and go. You won’t have to worry about taking the entire computer with you. Even if you could take the computer i.e. laptop or a tablet, what about your program discs if something happens to your home and they are destroyed and you needed them for a new hard drive or computer in the future? If anything happens to your computer or the hard drive, you have all the necessary discs and information with which to install the programs and copy your files to another computer or hard drive.

Another suggestion, if you are inclined and have the time, go through all the programs you use, one at a time, list and type up all the preferences, defaults, user names, email log-ins you used and passwords. This will also save you hours of time and frustration because you probably won’t remember them all, should you ever need to reinstall everything on another computer, new or reformatted hard drive.

I hope you never need to reinstall but if use your computer on a daily basis as I do, sooner or later you will more than likely either have a serious enough problem to need to do a complete reinstall or you will want to upgrade to a newer more up-to-date computer or hard drive. Taking the time to do the steps above will save you valuable time and frustration. Be sure to keep the discs, installation information, and lists up-to-date each time you purchase a computer, new hardware, program, or upgrade.

If you purchase a new computer that comes with hardware installed, save those discs with all the installation information. Do the same if you change a hardware part i.e. a printer, modem or graphics board and no longer have the old part. To avoid confusion, discard discs for computers or hardware parts you no longer have.

There are special programs that will allow you to completely copy everything from one hard drive to another, but only if you know for certain there are no problems with the old drive depending upon how old it is. There could even be some hard drive compatibility issues. If there are problems with the old drive and you do a copy, you could be copying the problems too so most computer techs will probably tell you it’s best to do a fresh install. You wouldn’t even be able to do this if your hard drive is totally corrupted or something happens to your home and your computer is gone so please think about taking the time to do these steps. It may take a little time at first, but the benefits, convenience and time you will save later will by far outweigh the time it takes now. Do it now while there is no emergency. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

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If you’re a mystery-suspense novel fan, be sure to stop by this site and browse the pages for my various books. I’ll be posting excerpts from some of my books.

Food for thought: “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)

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Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. I hope you enjoy my stories and I hope my tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts help you improve your skills and/or work smarter and more efficiently. If you have a question regarding dictation transcription, how to run your own secretarial service from home, or if you have a topic you would like me to write about, just let me know by email at: GSKWAuthor@mindspring.com

Bookmark this site and check back regularly for more valuable tips, tricks, secrets, and shortcuts as well as articles on specific topics regarding transcription work and working at home as well as updates on my novels. The Schedule of Future Postings page will be periodically updated.

When you subscribe to my website you will receive occasional email updates and notifications about new articles and short stories, my full novel publication dates, FREE ebook downloads, and future events and contests. Sign up using the Subscribe form below.